For a large event, place cards are printed with both a name and a table number and are arranged alphabetically on a table positioned at the entrance of the reception area. Guests browse the cards and find their names, taking the cards with them to their assigned tables. Upon arriving at their tables, they can choose any seat.

In this article, you’ll learn how to print individual seating place cards using a home computer and an inkjet printer. If you’d rather print 4-Up seating place cards that come four to an 8 ½ x 11 sheet, jump to our Learn How Easy it is to Print LCI's 4-Up Computer Place Cards video.

Our individual place cards come in 50 packs. They are flat for printing and scored for easy folding. There are dozens of individual seating place cards to choose from—those with designs, borders, metallic finishes, and deckled edges—but we’ll keep it simple with our Ecru Place Card. It’s a creamy Ecru color with a smooth finish that matches all of LCI Paper’s Ecru items including invitations and envelopes.

The first step in printing place cards is to download the free Classic, Linen & Metallic Place Cards 4 1/2 x 2 1/2 printing template provided on our web site. You can open the template file in Microsoft Word or with another word processor that reads the DOC format. This includes both OpenOffice.org Writer and AbiWord. The template, with a width of 4.5” and a height of 5”, is formatted to the dimensions of the place card. This takes into account the card is flat; it has not been folded to its finished size of 4.5” x 2.5”. Margins are set to .5” all around except for the top margin which is 3.25”. The reason for the larger top margin is because we will not be printing on the top half of the card. You’ll have a better idea once you see the printed place card.

Go ahead and change the sample place card wording so that it’s relevant to your event. Type the name and table number for one of your guests. Change the font face and size. Perhaps you’ll choose text to match that of your invitation. Since we’re printing on Ecru card stock, we’ve chosen to print brown text.

We’ve set up our template and we’re almost ready to print. We suggest cutting a plain piece of paper down to the dimensions of the place card and use it as a printing test. Load the test sheet into the printer and adjust the printer’s plastic guide to rest flush against the paper.

Before printing, we need to access our printer’s driver and communicate the size of our place card. Otherwise, the printer assumes we are printing on a standard 8 ½ x 11 sheet instead of a place card. Go to File/Print and choose your printer. Click the Properties button to access the printer driver.

Find the area for paper size and enter a custom value using the dimensions of our unfolded place card—4.5” wide by 5” high. Accept the changes and hit OK. You'll find yourself back at the print dialog box. Hit OK once more and print your test sheet. Only the bottom half of the test sheet will be printed. Fold the sheet in half as you would fold a place card. The front panel printing should be vertically and horizontally aligned.

Once you’ve settled on the look of your place card, you should save the template to your Documents folder. At your convenience, you can go back to your customized template and finish typing the rest of your names and table numbers.

You can load your place cards into your printer and print the cards one by one, changing the template wording to show a different name and table number for every card, or you can set up a mail merge. A mail merge requires some extra setup time so we’ll leave that lesson for another article.

Congratulations! You’ve learned how to print professional looking table place cards using LCI Paper’s Word template and your inkjet printer.

Joshua Birch

The staff at LCI Paper tests the different types and brands of specialty paper that we use to make our exclusive invitation offerings like envelopes, cards, pochettes, pocket folds, programs, etc. We test on a variety of inkjet and laser printers and note our recommendations on each product page. We also print sample wording and photograph many of our invitation cards, response cards, programs, and other items so that our customers can visualize how their invitations might look once they receive their blank stock purchase and print their custom wording at home. Since we print on so many different types of text weight papers and card stocks, we feel qualified to review our latest printer purchase, the Epson Stylus Photo R1900 Ink Jet Printer. Our R1900 was purchased about 6 months ago and since then, has seen almost daily use.

Features

The Epson Stylus Photo R1900 Ink Jet Printer is a wide-format printer capable of printing photos and documents as large as 13 inches wide and 44 inches long. Additionally, Epson lists these features and technologies:

• Photos with a superior gloss finish
• Epson UltraChrome Hi-Gloss® 2 pigment ink
• Red and Orange inks — improved vibrancy
• Smudge, fade and water resistant prints
• New Radiance™ technology — optimum color gamut
• Gallery-quality prints at faster speeds
• Thick paper support for fine art media
• Roll paper support for printing panoramas
• Professional quality CD/DVD printing
• Auto-switching Photo and Matte Black inks

On the date of this review, Epson.com's regular price was $549.99 with a $150 mail-in rebate good in October and November 2009, making the final price $399.99. Epson's rebate is only good for purchases at their web store. If you're willing to deal with a mail-in rebate, it's a better bargain than Amazon's current price of $499.00 and no rebate. Both offer free shipping on this printer. At this price point, the target audience is probably the "prosumer" that needs the flexibility of available wide-format printing and the higher printing quality that a more expensive printer like this should provide.

Look and Feel

The Epson Stylus Photo R1900 Ink Jet Printer is a good looking, sturdy unit. The paper loading tray can be folded down to cover the loading area and the paper output tray can be folded up to protect the output opening. This makes the printer a lot easier to carry and also helps protect the unit when it's not in use.

Connections

The R1900 has two USB connectors so two computers can connect to the printer at the same time, but at this price point, the printer should have an ethernet port to connect to a router or network switch. In our office, the printer is connected by USB to a computer on our wired local area network (LAN). This enables our networked PCs to share the printer.

Drivers

Trying to use this printer with our office Macintosh computers has been a frustrating experience. We downloaded and installed the latest Mac driver from Epson's site but were unable to access the driver to fine-tune our print settings. We could not print to the R1900 while it was connected to the PC on our LAN, and when we directly connected a Mac to the printer via USB and tried to print on a 5x7 card, it seemed the printer was working overtime. The card took longer than normal to print and came out wet and limp as if the entire surface had been coated with a clear ink. Perhaps with our inability to access the print driver, the default Quality Option was set to photo, causing the printer to cover the card with photo Gloss Optimizer. Granted, we are all very busy and have not put a lot of time into finding a solution for the Mac incompatibility, but it should not take a lot of extra work for the printer to properly work with a Mac running the recommended OS X version number and Epson's driver for the same version.

The good news for PC users is the PC driver effectively communicates with the printer and offers all of the customization that we need. Here is a screen shot of the driver on a Windows XP machine:

For the most part, every setting we need, including print quality, paper type, paper orientation, and custom size, can be adjusted in the interface's Main tab. This is important as many of our customers have commented that they are unable to find the area within their specific printer driver to enter a custom paper size setting. Our research has found when this issue comes up, it is frequently associated with HP brand printers. This is not a problem here, as we simply choose User Defined and enter our custom width and height in hundredths of an inch. So for a card that is 8 inches high, we would be enter a custom value of 800 for paper height.

Printing Results

As expected, the R1900 prints wonderfully on all the types of papers, cards, and envelopes and we found the top loading paper tray is quite helpful when printing small cards or envelopes. Other ink jet printers, with front loading trays have to feed the paper up--working against gravity--and tend not to do well with smaller items.

We found text to be sharper than we were used to seeing from less expensive and older inkjet printers. We were especially pleased with the results when we printed on challenging heavyweight, textured card stocks like Japanese linen and Gmund Vice Versa. The textures of these papers are more dramatic with deeper grooves between the raised lines. Additionally, printing on lighter specialty sheets, like our Japanese Floral Sukashi vellum, was flawless.

Conclusion

From inkjet vellum all the way up to 113 lb, extra heavy, textured card stock, printing is no problem for the R1900. It consistently printed sharp text that approached the sharpness of a laser printer.

Even though it has two USB connections, a current printer at this price point should have a network adapter for shared printing. But the biggest issue is that we are not yet able to achieve satisfactory results printing from a Mac computer.

For those that do not need an ethernet connector or the ability to print from a Mac computer, the R1900 offers great text and photo printing results with the added flexibility of wide-format printing.

With her article 10 Easy Steps to the Right Paper, Sabine Lenz of Paper Specs most effectively addresses this issue by offering ten tips to simplify the paper selection process.

The article begins with an imperative piece of advice:

“. . .You shouldn’t think about choosing your paper based on the highest quality available, or the highest quality you can afford. Rather, you should figure out the most appropriate quality paper for your needs, because most appropriate equals best.”

In essence, to confidently choose the right paper, you must first examine your project as a whole. Just as paper has many aspects to consider, so does your project design. In coming up with design ideas, you should consider your project’s purpose, audience, and overall tone and appearance. For example, is your creative project a black tie wedding invitation, an invite to a casual baby shower brunch, or a promotional announcement for hundreds? You should also factor in any budget, printing method, or time constraints. The same factors you examine when creating your design can also be used to decide on its paper.

Seen below, Lenz’s ten steps discuss these principles, and can be found in full and original content by clicking the link above, "10 Easy Steps to the Right Paper."

Consider Paper Early On

Due to its vital role in your creative design, paper should be considered at the earliest possible stage of your design. After all, you would not want to have a paper in mind, only to find out it is not available in a certain color, or that you can not print on it. Worse, you would not want to have completed the ideal design for yourself or a client, only to discover it does not physically or aesthetically fit with the paper it is to be printed on.

Project Personality

As mentioned above, your project’s purpose, audience, and overall look and feel will inevitably impact your paper selection. Basically, you want the tone of your project to match the tone of the paper you select. To illustrate this point, the article uses the example of a philanthropic organization seeking donations. Requesting money, the organization should not print its letter on an expensive stock, because the message of the letter and the tone of the expensive stock do not coincide. Similarly, you would not print an elegant wedding or gala invitation on a flimsy, plain white sheet of paper. In this instance, you would seek paper with a weight, finish, or texture that suggests a more opulent event.

Finish to Enhance Project Tone

The paper is not only there to give the ink a foundation, but to enhance the design of the image you want to portray.

An average design can be refreshed and made to portray an entirely different image when printed on paper with a rich finish or texture. With such a large selection of specialty paper to choose from, this is an area that is truly fun to experiment with. In general, matte finishes portray softness, metallics allude to elegance, and textures and patterns can create a theme of their own.

Color Choice

Creative designers may seek a specific color for any number of reasons, including mood, theme, preference, or requirement. When working with color, consider any potential impacts it may have on your design. To illustrate this tip, the article discusses printing on a pale shade of yellow paper, warning readers to be cautious with ink color; i.e. blue ink would appear green. You may also have a certain shade of a color in mind, yet when you see the paper in person, it does not quite match up. In these cases, it is suggested you order a sample first, because back-tracking is never ideal.

Paper Weight for Printing and Mailing Purposes

When deciding on paper weight, you must consider your project from start to finish. First, determine the method of printing you will use. Projects that will be foil stamped or printed on both sides will require a heavier stock. If you are printing with your own laser or inkjet printer, keep in mind you may have trouble with stocks over eighty pounds. However, if you are seeking the services of a professional printer, this is not as much of a concern. Last, if you are going to mail your creative project, you must consider that a heavy stock may require more postage than a lighter one.

Environmental Considerations

With today's emphasis on going green, more people are seeking environmentally friendly papers. Fortunately, paper manufacturers recognize this growing trend and are responding favorably, resulting in far more "green" options than in the past. After briefly researching your prospective paper, you may find that it is both beautiful and environmentally conscious. For more information on LCI's "green" paper, please visit the following:

LCI's Eco Friendly Recycled Paper
Dictionary of Eco Friendly Paper Terms
Interview with Chlorine Free Products Director Archie Beaton

Consider the Printing Process

Without the proper printing equipment, various finishes and textures may be troublesome to print on . Again, if you are using a professional printing service, the printer will likely have the knowledge and equipment to properly print your project. If you are unsure which printing method you will choose, you could always experiment on sample sheets. In this way, if you determine you need the services of a professional printer, you can appropriately plan for this ahead of time.

Price

Lenz sums up the issue of price, with the following:

It has happened to us all. We have champagne taste on a beer budget. Paper averages thirty percent of the cost of a print project. That is not a small percentage and definitely one to take a closer look at, if you work on a tight budget.

Let's be honest. Though a specialty paper can really enhance a project, it can also enhance the price. If you find a paper you love, but it is out of your price range, do not be discouraged! It never hurts to ask for suggestions and suitable alternatives. Also keep in mind that fonts, graphics, and accessories can alter a project's tone as well. Please see the following article for examples of how simple changes in fonts and graphics turned four standard white cards into beautiful invitations.

How To Create Invitations with Microsoft Word

Availability and Additional Time

Stated simply, if you have a specific paper in mind, check its availability ahead of time. You certainly do not want to complete a design, only to find out the paper you wished to print on will not be available for three weeks, or worse, that it is no longer manufactured.

Now that you are aware of the factors to consider when selecting your paper, it is time to browse. Even if you have been briefed on paper basics, browsing through a vast selection of paper can still be overwhelming. Fortunately, LCI has simplified this process by providing tools for easy navigation on its site. These tools include a neatly categorized Specialty Paper Page, a Tip Paper Chart to specifically filter results, the option to order samples, and helpful customer service to answer any questions. For detailed information on this topic, please visit How Do I Find the Right Paper for My Creative Project? on LCI's Creative Blog.

Kristen Desrosier

Laurie in Oklahoma recently submitted a save the date card that she helped create for her cousin’s son Adam and his fiancée Laine. Laurie was kind enough to drop one in the mail and then talk to me about the card's unique format and the process of creating it.

You sent me a beautifully produced card with a glossy finish showing the bride and groom to be in a television studio. Can you tell me how the idea for this invitation came together?

Well the bride is a weekend news anchor and the groom is a weekend sports anchor and that’s a real picture of them on TV together. We placed 'Save the Date...Breaking News' inside the TV screen and the idea was kind of a play off of their job.

Your card is slick and glossy. How did you decide to go that route?

It was printed at a printer and he did what is called coating—like a postcard finish really. But the catch was, when I gave him that, I gave him your purple lined envelope. When we created the piece, the piece was the correct purple. Sometimes when you add that coating, it changes the color a little bit. And I had to make sure with the printer that it didn’t change the color because I wanted the piece to match the purple lining inside of your envelope. I have to play off of what the bride and groom want and they wanted purple. Their whole wedding is going to be purple and black.

Any response yet from folks who have seen it?

They thought it was a pretty cool piece. I had one person that saw it and said, ‘This is by far the best save the date I’ve ever seen.’

Thanks to Laurie for sharing this unique Save the Date that she helped create. To see more customer creations, visit our Share Your Creativity page.

Recommended Link:
White Purple Lined A7 Envelope

Joshua Birch

Today, you’ll learn how to print invitation cards for four different events—a 25th anniversary, a child’s birthday, a wedding, and a Bar Mitzvah. All four invitations will be printed on LCI Paper’s A7 sized Radiant White cards. This popular blank invitation card measures 5 1/8 x 7 inches. By changing fonts and adding simple graphics within Microsoft Word, you’ll find that you can create custom invitations in different moods, from elegant to whimsical.

WEDDING

Our first project is an elegant wedding invitation. When printing a custom invitation card of any kind, the first step is to set up a template to match the card size. We’ll enter a custom width and height--5.13 by 7--to match our invitation card’s dimensions.

The template is now created and we can enter the text that will appear on the invitation. Sample invitation wording for all the events covered in this video is available at LCIPaper.com, so we’ve got you covered.

We’ll use the Century Gothic font to turn average into elegant. If you want to expand your font collection, you can turn to a number of free font archives on the web.

A combination of two different fonts adds another dimension to a wedding invitation. Since the bride and groom are the main attraction, we’ve used the Tagettes font to highlight their names. We’ve also made their names larger than the rest of the invitation wording by changing the font size.

Now that we’re happy with our invitation wording, fonts, and font sizes, there’s just one more setting we need to adjust. By clicking File, Print, and then Properties we’ll access the printer driver and communicate to the printer that we will be loading a non-standard size card into its tray. Under paper size, we’ll enter the custom dimensions of our invitation card.

We’ll print the card in an Epson inkjet printer. Our elegant wedding invitation is shown in our Jumbo purple-lined double wedding envelope.

ANNIVERSARY

Let’s turn our attention toward another formal occasion, a 25th anniversary celebration—the silver anniversary.

We’ve chosen a script font and a rings and hearts graphic available within our version of Word by clicking Insert, Picture, Clip Art.

Whenever we import a graphic or picture, it’s important to format it by right clicking and selecting Format Picture.

Under the Layout tab, we’ll send the graphic behind the text as opposed to wrapping around the text.

Since the theme is a Silver Anniversary, we’ll change the color of the blue graphic to grayscale, giving the graphic a silver look.

To widen the space between each line of text, we’ll adjust the line spacing. Since we’re looking for a fine adjustment, we’ll choose More.

We’ll enter a custom value of 1.15. We reached this decision by first experimenting with different settings of 1.1 and 1.2 before deciding on 1.15.

BAR MITZVAH

The templates for our final two invitation cards will be laid out in the Mac version of Word. First, we’ll design a Bar Mitzvah invitation card.

We’ve inserted a Star of David graphic and formatted it in the same way that we loaded and formatted the graphic used in the anniversary card template.

We’ve selected our text and changed the font to a decorative font suitable for a special occasion.

Since this card will be paired with a silver envelope, we’ll coordinate by lightening up the Star of David graphic. We’ll do this by changing the graphic’s transparency.

Since Benjamin is the reason for the Bar Mitzvah, we’ve enlarged both instances of his name. We also moved “Benjamin” up and in front of the Star of David graphic.

This Bar Mitzvah invitation is paired with a Stardream metallic Silver A7 envelope.

BIRTHDAY

Now we’ll make a child’s birthday invitation using fonts and graphics for a whimsical and fun look.

As with the other cards, we’ll start by typing our invitation wording.

With a font change, we’ll transform the invitation.

Adding a balloon graphic and sending it behind the text adds flare and fun.

We lightened the balloons using the same transparency technique as in our Bar Mitzvah invitation. We used two font colors so that the important information is more fun to read.

Our Carnival Serene Blue A7 envelope compliments the invitation and goes perfectly with a young boy’s birthday party.

Using Microsoft Word to change fonts and graphics is a simple way to create cards for different types of events. With a simple font change and the right clip art, you can create memorable invitations for all of your important dates.

Joshua Birch

He's lukewarm about food, but the menu gets four stars. "I love the paper stock," he says, rubbing the heavy ecru sheet between his fingers. "It feels like it could have been Elle Woods' résumé in Legally Blonde. If I ever have to send out résumés, I'm going to do it on this paper stock."

I'd imagine that Bruni's excitement is exactly the kind of enthusiasm that restaurant owners and managers are envisioning when they carefully choose the presentation of their menus, starting with a fine card stock. A distinctive and well presented restaurant menu conveys to diners that this restaurant cares about presentation, starting with the menu and presumably carrying over into the food that is served.

As the orders come in for LCI Paper's dozens and dozens of different specialty papers and card stocks, I sometimes wonder how they're being used. Many of our customers are individuals making their own invitations, but we also sell to businesses that want to break through the clutter and present one of a kind mailings for marketing or other business communications. And I've spoken to a number of restaurant owners and managers that regularly order our paper for their menus. Our metallic specialty papers and card stocks, like the Aspire Petallics brand, are popular choices, but I wonder what kind of impact one of our Japanese linens or Gmund Digital brands in their textured finishes would make. If you're looking for a unique specialty paper for your restaurant's new menu, a great place to start is our 8 1/2 x 14 Card Stock Paper, a popular size for menus.

Joshua Birch

When budgeting for that special event that you've decided on square invitations, we recommend taking one finished invitation to your local post office so that when you are ready to mail the whole lot, you won't be surprised at the additional postage. Earlier this year, when I sent invitations out for my parents' 50th anniversary event, the postage for each square invitation was 61 cents. It wasn't a large expense, but I was glad to know the cost in advance.

LCI Paper carries a wide variety of square envelopes from classic lined wedding envelopes to metallic envelopes in a wonderful array of colors. We also have translucent vellum envelopes in six cool colors and even petal fold pochette envelopes.

So if you're planning a special event and you want your invitations to stand out, consider a square envelope and design your invitation from there.

Joshua Birch

Stardream

Our Stardream envelopes, available in a variety of popular sizes, are made with metallic Stardream brand paper by European fine paper manufacturer Gruppo Cordenons (Italian for the Cordenons Group). Gruppo Cordenons has a rich history in paper making dating back 1630 when the earliest records indicate their Cartera de Cordenon mill in Italy began operation. That Italian mill and another in Italy continue to produce high quality specialty and technical papers.

Stardream is a distinctive range of metallic, iridescent and pearlescent paper created expressly for the designer and printer to give an "astral" effect to your work, meeting the more sophisticated trends of color and fashion. Michael P. Santillo, Gruppo Cordenons' Eastern Regional Sale Manager says,

Stardream envelopes are a great way to depict style and class for that special occasion and will leave a lasting impression on the recipient.

The smooth and shiny Stardream finish is presented on both the inside and outside of the envelopes.

Aspire Petallics

Like luscious candies dipped in sugar, delightfully colored base papers and a specially formulated mica coating combine to create Aspire Petallics. Aspire Petallics envelopes are available in a range of pastel tones plus the striking and unique Copper Ore color. The smooth and shiny finish is duplicated on the inside as well.

John Kelly, VP of Sales & Marketing for CTI Paper USA says

The distinctly elegant surface of Aspire Petallics radiates with a soft alluring shine, conveying sophistication, glamor and beauty. Your invitation, announcement or direct mail piece will demand attention when housed in an Aspire Petallics envelope.

Reaction

As mentioned in the first paragraph, our metallic envelopes react differently to the light, depending on how you hold and manipulate the envelope. The Reaction brand, made in the Bavarian Alps of Germany, provide the most dramatic reaction, hence the brand name. Mica pigments produce a bi-color effect. Reaction envelopes also have a soft feel, subtle mesh texture that you'll notice when you touch them. Unlike Stardream and Aspire Petallics, inside the envelope, Reaction features a non-metallic finish in a complimentary color.

Gmund's Worldwide Sales Director, Herbert Eibach, had the following to say about Reaction envelopes:

There are many important occasions where an envelope needs to impress people. On special occasions like this, the intended response is for the recipient to experience an unforgettable, emotional, and pleasurable visual. Gmund has developed a range of unique Reaction envelopes especially for the most unique business communication opportunities. The surface shines like silk, sparkling like precious jewelry. The Gmund Reaction envelope has the attractiveness to touch peoples feelings.

All three brands can be printed using conventional methods. Due to the unique metallic surfaces, they are not recommended for inkjet printing. In some cases, laser printing can be achieved. We recommend consulting your printer's user manual and ordering a sample to run as a test.

Joshua Birch

Barry Levine, Vice President of Sales and Service, had the following to say about the recent expansion:

Becoming a Bar or Bat Mitzvah is a milestone event for a child about to enter a time of responsibility according to Jewish law and the Torah. It is an acknowledgment of a continued commitment to their Jewish identity and its existence. Generally speaking, it is the first time in which the boy or girl participates as an adult in the Sabbath service. Keeping all of this in mind, we felt that we had an obligation to provide a collection of invitations that would be creative, yet sensitive to the occasion it represents. Our invitations vary from contemporary to traditional in nature. In this way, we hope to capture a wide audience of visitors.

LCI Paper continues to sell blank stock to customers to print and assemble on their own. As LCI recognizes that do-it-yourself invitations are quite simple and beneficial once a customer is familiar with the task, it also recognizes that it is common for beginners to run into difficulty. This is why help is always just a phone call or email away. With a simple, user-friendly web page and experienced customer service, LCI is continuously striving to aid customers in achieving precisely they look they desire.

As always, other benefits to creating a unique invitation through LCI Paper include the ability to customize appearance and wording, cost-effectiveness, and same-day shipping. By supplying a myriad of creative options and assistance, it is the hope of LCI that any Bar or Bat Mitzvah perusing the new section will find the perfect invitation for his or her sacred day.

Recommended Links:
LCI's Bar/Bat Mitzvah Invitations

Kristen Desrosier

At LCI Paper, we continue to enjoy the Share Your Creativity submissions that our customers are sending in. Earlier this week, I spoke to Mayra in California about her elegant pocket fold wedding invitation that she made with our Autumn Hay metallic card stock and other items she found locally. Here is my interview with Mayra.

To save the audio to your computer, right click and "save as."

Here is a transcript of the interview:

Let me ask you first, are you married yet or is your wedding coming up?

No, my wedding’s coming up. It’s on December 18th.

Ok, so you started your invitations plenty early. That’s good.

Yes, I started early, very early because I wanted to finish them on time just in case anything went wrong.

When did you decide that you’d like to do them yourself?

When I started looking at pricing for invitations, it was crazy. It was too much.

Yeah. Were you just going to stationery stores or did you actually talk to designers?

I went to stores. I spoke to a couple of designers in Fresno. Also online, I would look online.

Now, this isn’t your first project like this is it? Because your invitations look so professional to me.

No, that was my first time. (laughter)

Really! Ok, alright.

Yeah, that was my first time. I need to get into the specifics here then, because there are so many unique ideas in your invitation.

Let’s start with the outside of the pocket fold where you have the monogram badge with yours and your husbands initials right?

Right.

Yeah, how did that come about?

Like I said, I researched a lot. I would go online and look at pictures, magazines of invitations and they would have something similar and I’d just change it up a little. I just added something that I liked better than what they had.

Did you make the pocket fold?

Yeah.

Or did you order the pocketfolds?

No, I made them myself. I made everything. I made the cutouts for the invitation and then whatever I had scratch from that I used it for the pocket.

Ok, wow. It’s just unbelievable to me that it’s your first time doing this sort of thing. You had never made a pocket fold before?

No. (laughter) Like I said, I would go to stores and I would pay attention to see how they would make the pockets. One of my cousins got married in July and he had an invitation similar to mine but he got his made from somebody else. And he had a pocket and I paid attention to see how he made the pocket and then I made it myself.

Interesting. So you decided on that rather than just buying our pocket folds for example. You bought our metallic paper.

Yeah.

Was it the Beargrass? I can’t remember what color you got. Do you remember?

No I got the Autumn Hay.

Ok, yup. Well, really great job on that. It looks so professional.

Thank you.

Yeah! I guess we’re still talking about the monogram badge. It has a pink ribbon that wraps around as well.

Well, the ribbon I did buy at a craft store. I think it was Michael’s or Beverly’s. I don’t remember what... I went to a lot of craft stores for these invitation for the stuff I needed for them. I also had to buy the card stock—the pink card stock paper that I used--because you guys didn’t have something similar to that color of ribbon. I just, I don’t know. I was just layering stuff, I don’t know.

Well, how did you do the stencil work? Because you have kind of a white backing and the card goes over that and sort of tucks in under your stenciling, is that right?

Yes. I bought some punch outs, the stencil punch outs that they sell at craft stores. I wanted it to look a little more elegant and I thought it would give it a little more of an elegant look. If I wouldn’t have used it, I think it would have looked a little too simple.

Mmm. And then the jewels that you have in the corners—are those little plastic decorative jewels?

Yeah, they’re just simple jewels you can buy anywhere and I just glued them on there, on each corner and stuff.

Ok. So you’ve sent them out already?

Yeah, I already sent them out.

What reaction are you getting?

Oh, everybody’s telling me that they’re beautiful. I have a couple of cousins that are getting married and they want me to help them make their invitations, their friends and stuff—even for their daughters’ Quinceaneras and stuff like that, they want me to help them.

You know, I’ve interviewed quite a few invitation designers and this is how they get started.

(laughter) Yeah, well, I don’t know if I’ll design invitation for the future but... It takes a lot of work, a lot of patience too.

Certainly.

And you have to have the right tools. If I had the right tools for everything, I think it would have been easier because I did everything myself with the things that I had so that I wouldn’t have had to spend so much money on them.

And is your fiancé happy with them?

Oh yeah, he loves them. He actually helped me too. He was helping me do everything for the invitations.

Why did it take the end of the interview for you to admit that?

Umm...

I’m just kidding.

I don’t know! (laughter)

No, that’s great to hear that he was so involved.

Is there anything else that you wanted to mention about your invitation that you’d like people to know or have we covered it?

No, just that if somebody decides to make their invitations, to do it on time. It takes a lot of patience not to give up. (laughter)

Ok, that’s good advice.

--

Thanks to Mayra for taking a few minutes away from her wedding planning to talk to me about her homemade invitation.

Joshua Birch

After perusing the inspiration board and its associated links, and with Halloween’s “anything goes” concept in mind, I was compelled to play around with some ideas of my own. After all, whether you are planning a children’s party or an elaborate theme wedding, you can make your Halloween event as fun and cheesy or as elegant as you choose.

Some may disagree that a Halloween wedding can be elegant, yet elegance can be pulled off with the right details and décor, as seen on the board pictured above. This Martha Stewart Weddings pumpkin decor idea serves as another example. A spin on the traditional jack-o-lantern, these monogrammed pumpkins are a unique way to incorporate Halloween without tackiness or overkill.

Pictured to the left is another great example. Found through Brides Magazine, this simple invitation idea lets your guests know that your wedding will be a unique theme, yet still classic. Though certainly not a mainstream design, the invitation's combination of colors, Gothic graphics, and fonts allows for an offbeat, yet elegant feel. This invitation could be easily replicated with a Pumpkin Japanese Linen Backing Card cut to size, Clear Vellum Overlay, Self-Adhesive Black Satin Bow, and wording and fonts of choice.

Thinking about some more casual and fun Halloween ideas, yet another Intimate Weddings blog posting inspired me to make the party invitation seen here. This posting offers a variety of free templates for download, including labels, themed papers, and graphics. After looking around, I decided upon the skeleton paper graphic. I simply downloaded the graphic, sized it to fit my underlying A9 Invitation Card, and printed it to serve as a backdrop for my wording. Next, I printed the invitation wording on an 5 1/2 by 8 1/2 piece of Translucent Orange Vellum, and fastened it with a Black Spiral Clip. This design was quick, easy, and a simple way of setting the tone for Halloween fun!

From elegant to casual, theme or not, with a bit of imagination and creativity, you can pull off any look you desire.

Kristen Desrosier

Here is the important press release:

Safety Net for Hundreds of People with Mental Illness is Threatened in Marlborough and Metrowest

Call Governor Patrick and your legislator and tell them not to cut these vital funds...

Employment Options, a recognized leader in providing a variety of crucial services to individuals recovering from mental illness could face harsh budget cuts if the Governor cuts the part of the state budget that funds these services as rumored on Beacon Hill.

The Governor according to several reports is due to announce potentially devastating cuts to Clubhouse Rehabilitation and Recovery Centers that aid over 8,000 people in Massachusetts who have serious and persistent mental illness live in the community. This threat would permanently discontinue the services that are provided by Employment Options, an agency serving individuals recovering from mental illness living within the Metro west area.

The services provided by Employment Options assist individuals with mental illness prepare for employment and other vital tasks in their community and help provide them with a sense of dignity and respect, something all individuals strive for. In FY09, Employment Options served 357 people with an average daily attendance of 71 individuals accessing employment, housing and family services.

In addition to the statewide advocacy efforts, Employment Options is also seeking local awareness and advocacy to continue to serve a vulnerable population served by Westborough State Hospital. As of April 1, 2010, due to financial hardships, Westborough State Hospital will be closing its door, and an additional 73 individuals with severe mental illness will be living in the local community.

"It is essential now more than ever that we remain a resource for the community, "according to Wolf. "We have to ask, where will these people go and how will they manage their lives as they leave a state facility where they have resided for years? Without a safety net such as Employment Options or other agencies that serve this population, individuals will out of necessity use the streets as a place to go and inadvertently utilize the police and emergency rooms. These cuts will just shift costs somewhere else and we believe the Massachusetts taxpayer will not be happy as a result."

About Employment Options:
Employment Options is a non-profit organization based in Marlborough, MA. The organization has been in operation for over 30 years and is well-known for providing mental health rehabilitation services, through the 'Clubhouse' program. Employment Options' primary funding comes from the Department of Mental Health. Through inspiration, support and encouragement, Employment Options creates a home-away-from-home where people can overcome barriers to employment and discover personal growth, self-sufficiency, and hope. http://www.employmentoptions.org/

Joshua Birch

A former paper mill employee, Archie Beaton raised eyebrows in his industry and subsequently lost his job when he focused on the human health aspect of the manufacturing process. With inspiration from his niece, a computer with one disk and one program, and a tiny budget, he started the Chlorine Free Products Association. Now, as Executive Director, he travels the world educating people about advancements in positive change for sustainability.

Archie found LCI Paper while reading through my interview with Herbert Eibach from Gmund, one of LCI paper’s valued suppliers. Archie was impressed when he read about Gmund’s ozone-based water purification plant. After I put Archie in touch with Herbert from Gmund, I asked Archie if he’d like to be interviewed about the Chlorine Free Products Association.

To save the audio to your computer, right click and "save as."

Here is a transcript of the interview:

Would you tell me about the hazards of chlorine in a manufacturing process?

When you look at a process that’s using chlorine chemistry, and we’ll take the pulp and paper industry as an example, when you use chlorine chemistry—the chlorine compounds that are being produced—there are over 1,000 different chemical compounds that are produced and released from a pulp mill. Of those 1,000 different chemicals, 300 have been identified. 700 of them have not been identified because the chemical makeup in chlorine chemistry continually changes as it’s going through the process. But of the 300 they have identified, 30 are the most toxic compounds known to man. And when you look at an average pulp mill, around 250,000 – 300,000 tons a year, that pulp mill will use somewhere close to 60 million gallons of fresh water each and every day. And by the way, they don’t have a water bill. Most people don’t seem to understand that. Water is free to the paper companies.

Ah really?

Yeah. And it’s quite amazing. And that’s why when we talk to them about water conservation, they don’t necessarily care because there’s no water bills attached. But you take a look at these chemical compounds and you look at the amount that they’re using... The reason that they have to use so much water is because when you use chlorine chemistry, it’s extremely caustic. And that caustic part of it is what they have to release it quickly. But not only is it caustic but it’s extremely toxic. Some of the compounds that are known are what are called the “dirty dozen.” The world has set up this thing called the dirty dozen. It’s 12 compounds, 8 of which are chlorinated compounds that have been asked to be phased out and every country but the U.S. so far has signed on to that.

Ok. Now tell about the slogan, “Chlorine bleaches out life.”

Well, that slogan was actually created by a college student. Every year, the Chlorine Free Products Association held a program called “Designing for a Sustainable Future.” For 5 years, we had this program at the university level and a University of Michigan student came up with that slogan. And basically, what it is, is it’s showing us that as we continue to create these chlorinated compounds and release them into the environment, that’s actually being very degregating to the human health. What’s happening is that these polychlorinated biphenyls and other chemical compounds are so similar in chemical structure, that when a child or a fetus is being developed, what happens is that these receptors are out there. And these chlorinated compounds are so similar to estrogens or testosterones that they lock themselves into these receptors. And as they do that, when ends up happening is, is that either that receptor doesn’t turn on or doesn’t turn off. And so you have issues with the very beginning of life where the fetuses are starting their very beginning development and it’s causing all kinds of human health aspects such as ADD, ADDH which are learning disabilities. Its immune systems are being devastated. There are all kinds of things that are going on right from inception.

Ok. How does chlorine free relate to sustainable manufacturing practices?

Well, when you look at just the raw resources that are necessary to produce one single sheet of copy paper. A paper mill that’s using chlorine chemistry has to use large amounts of water because the release of these chemical compounds are so toxic, or caustic I should say. They’re toxic but they’re also very caustic which means that they try to control that water and try to reuse it in the plant. They will actually eat the metal structure of the mill. To give you an example the amount of water, if you’re actually using chlorine chemistry, it takes more than 13 ½ ounces of water to make a single sheet of copy paper. Now if you’re using a chlorine-free technology, oxygen or ozone-based chemicals, what ends up happening is that this is water that you can recycle through the plant 30, 40 times if you continue to use that water in every one of those processes ‘cause it’s not as caustic. It’s clean and it’s something that you can recycle through the process, reuse again and again, and a copy paper made totally chlorine-free will be less than 2 ounces of water for that same sheet of paper.

Ok. And you found LCI through our blog and reading about one of our paper suppliers, Gmund in Germany. And you were impressed with their technique that doesn’t use the level of chemicals that are in use at other mills, correct?

That is very true and in fact, I’m really looking forward to visiting with that company within the next couple of weeks and going through that process because it is quite unique that they’re actually using oxygen-based compounds and creating their own energy and their own water purification process which most paper companies don’t.

You are planning to visit Gmund on your European trip then.

I am.

Awesome!

I’m hoping to spend at least a day with that company and I understand that they make some of the most unique paper grades available in the world. I’m really excited because we work with a lot of designers and it would be awesome for me to be able to come back and talk about the mill, talk about the process, and even bring some paper samples home.

Yeah, excellent. So that’s coming up but you’re coming back from the Montpelier State House in Vermont where you attended an awards ceremony for the “Designing for a Sustainable Future” contest. Tell me about that.

Well, every year we challenge... In the state of Vermont, we’ve done this for 10 years now, we challenge the 6th, 7th, and 8th grade students to design artwork based on what they see is a sustainable future. And every year the children have chosen to work on processes that are focusing on chlorine chemistry. And we’ve asked the students to put together something that shows a positive approach to a negative issue. So we felt that if a 10-15 year old can develop artwork that another 10-15 year old can understand, that maybe us older individuals might be able to understand it too. And so the students have done a great job. The Governor joins us every year, a few 100 students that join us, and it’s just a great time. People like Ben & Jerry’s provides free ice cream, the kids get a tour of the state capitol building and they get to have their artwork turned into posters which we keep and we also make into envelopes that we make available for free, and then we also give the children some money and some other prizes that we’re able to collect from sponsors.

Ok. And you also just returned from a trip to Nigeria, is that right?

That’s correct. The Chlorine Free Products Association is getting so many requests from around the world today that we’re looking at the possibility of working and taking a country like Nigeria as a focal point, who are way behind the sustainability screens, and bringing them up to speed quickly. By working with academia and the government of Nigeria, we’re hoping we can actually put an office into either Abuja or Lagos and really reach all of the African continent.

Archie, you’re traveling so much, tell me about your role within the Chlorine Free Products Association.

Well, as the Execute Director, really, I’m the individual that is the speaker on behalf of the kinds of education that we can provide. So my job, really, is to go out and to help educate. And so it is very hard to make a lot of these trips. It’s very time consuming. But I’ve got a great staff that does everything that’s necessary to get me in front of the right audiences and to really help educate everybody that’s open to advancements in positive change for sustainability.

And later this month, well, you’re traveling to four different European countries. We mentioned you’ll be stopping at Gmund in Germany. Can you tell me some of the other opportunities you’ll have on that trip?

Well, the other companies that we’re working with are companies you’d be familiar with. We’re going to be visiting with a company that makes coffee filters and in Germany there’s only one major coffee filter company, Melitta. We’re also visiting with a company that makes what they call grease-proof papers for baking and baking cups. Also for sheets that are used in the bakeries. So if you’re doing those kinds of things, we’ll be visiting with those types of companies. We’ll also be visiting with the Forest Stewardship Council and trying to work with them to do a process that will have a great chain of custody for great forestry issues and also a manufacturing component that will actually take everything from the forest into the process and to the consumer.

How long has the CFPA been active and what are some of the organization’s accomplishments?

Well, it’s kind of interesting you ask that. We got started back in 1994. I was giving a talk before the International Symposium in Pollution Prevention. And it was in 1993 in Washington, DC; somewhere close to 5,000 attendees from all around the world. And my job there was to talk on behalf of a paper mill that I was working for—a small paper mill in upstate New York that was actually totally chlorine free. My position on this was to talk about the technology and the way technology had operated but my approach was a little bit different which was kind of upsetting for a few people in the audience. My approach was to talk about how one industry was affecting our lives. And as I was giving my talk, a gentleman from one of the major pulp and paper mills came down and requested that my microphone be taken.

Really?

Then another man came down from another major company and another to the point that when... I had three gentlemen, three of the largest paper companies in the world standing in front of the podium asking me to please talk about what I was there for and not about the human health aspects. And after that meeting, I was approached by a gentleman that said, “We were really impressed with the information you provided. We would like to talk to you about how you might be able to help us.” And it was a Swedish company. And they offered the opportunity to work with us. So then I wrote an article and that was in Pulp & Paper magazine and all of a sudden we received more requests from Sweden from companies that are working on the cutting edge of advancements in pulp and paper production. And these are mills that are investing heavily in producing the cleanest, most sustainable pulp in the world. And after that meeting, they invited me to their plant, introduced me to the technologies that they were using, allowed me to speak with other clients of theirs to explain why there was a tremendous difference, and help in some market development activities along with developing of the processes themselves.

You were still working for the paper company at the time?

No, interesting enough, after I gave that presentation in Washington, DC, I went back to my boss and explained to him what it is I would like to do and he agreed as that I would no longer work for the company and that I would be on my own and so that with 3,000 dollars is how the CFPA got started back in 1994.

Gotcha. Tell me about your job satisfaction now, working for a noble environmental cause. Does that satisfaction carry over into the time when you’re not working? Does it kind of affect your personal life as well?

It was because of my personal life that actually I took this cause on. I had a niece who was 30 years old at the time and I was still working for the paper mill and I was giving a presentation in New Orleans. And prior to my going down there, my niece, Lisa, had been diagnosed with breast cancer. And so she wrote a little note for me. And in that note it basically said things like, “You may not have stopped or protected me from these chemical compounds, but I want you to protect my nieces” and “What can you do to do that?” And so she wrote a really heart-touching article for me to use. And so as I go down to give this presentation in New Orleans and hear the mothers down there saying the same thing, “We need to protect our children. You may not have protected me and I may be stricken by this, but you need to do this for our children.” And it was really heart-wrenching to hear that. And so as a man, understanding that we love women; we love our children; we need to do what we can to protect them. And with the information that I had, I needed to speak out on that. And I have to say, very sadly, that Lisa never made 33. She left 2 beautiful daughters and that story has been repeated again and again. And the passion that I have for this is such that every now and again I’ll get a little note from somebody from somewhere who I don’t know who I’ve never met and it will be, “Thanks for being.” And that’s enough to make me work harder every day.

I hear you. Wow. Would it be safe to say that you’re also the founder as well as Executive Director?

That’s correct! And it’s kind of interesting the way the founding went, you know 3,000 dollars doesn’t get you very far.

Right.

So one of the companies that I competed against, which ended up becoming one of our first sponsors, I went to them first and I sat down with them for lunch and I flew up on some frequent flier miles that I had. I sat down with them and explained to them after 4 hours of presentation that we needed around 250,000 dollars to get started. And after that luncheon, as they paid for my airfare and bought my lunch, they sent me home and said, “No, we can’t do that.” That was way more money than they spent in their entire budget. But they still supported us in other ways. So I went back to my home and at this time I had a little bit of savings. I had a little closet next to the furnace and I had a little computer. And back then, the computer was 1 disk, 1 program. So I sat by the furnace and I had 2 small children. And the children, now and again, as I would be making phone calls, would be banging on the door asking to get in because they were tired of beating each other up, they wanted to come play with me. And so here I would have a CEO from a major corporation calling me up. I’m next to the furnace, the dog is wining next to me, my children are beating on the door, and the CFPA was being born.

At ChlorineFreeProducts.org, there’s an opportunity to sign up for the CFPA mailing list. What types of mailings would someone expect to receive if they submitted their e-mail address?

The majority of what we provide are market development-type activities, trying to help to penetrate the market today so that people understand that there’s a lot of greenwashing going on. There are companies that are making some unbelievable claims when, in fact, they are not doing much themselves to make a change in their process. So one of the things you would receive from us is factual information—positive information on what you can do to make a difference either in the baking cups that you buy when you go to the grocery store to the cereal boxes that you’re buying that should be sustainable to the paper towels that you use or the bath tissue that you buy so that you understand that you are making a positive impact on the environment and on the future.

Ok, so you don’t have to be an industry insider to kind of follow what your organization’s doing. You can be a person who’s interested in health and the environment and you’ll receive useful info.

Exactly. And if you are in the industry and you’re looking for some industry help, we’ve got some key individuals that are working for us. We have 2 tappy fellows that are working with us. One of them is Doctor Norman Liebergott—50 years plus in the pulp and paper industry, more than 60 plus patents, knows the pulp and paper industry bleaching process in and out. We have Doctor Allan Springer, a retired professor from the University of Miami Ohio, also a gentleman that put together our sustainability screen for the pulp and paper industry. Two outstanding minds in pulp and paper; are willing to work with our companies on either productivity gains or product quality gains. And any audit that we do, that’s part of what we offer to the paper companies. You know, “How can I reduce the amount of energy?” “My greenhouse gases?” “How much water am I using?” “What am I doing as far as how well I am doing socially?”

Are there other things that we can do on a sustainable way that we can help with? And that’s one of the key attributes that we provide to the industry itself.

--

Thanks to Archie Beaton of the Chlorine Free Products Association and to his staff for making this interview possible. It was a very busy time for the organization, as Archie had just returned to the office from a trip to Nigeria, and was about to head out to Germany, Spain, Denmark, and the UK. If you’d like to learn more about the environmental efforts of the CPFA, visit their web site at ChlorineFreeProducts.org. And if you enjoy hearing from industry insiders like Archie Beaton, subscribe to LCI’s free podcast. You can also search for LCI Paper in the iTunes store.

Recommended Links:
Chlorine Free Products Association
Gmund
Forest Stewardship Council

Joshua Birch

LCI Paper’s Share Your Creativity area, where we feature creative customer submissions on our blog, has been a great success. People are finding inspiration in the designs that our customers have created at home using our selection of specialty paper products. In one sentence, your submissions are inspiring others to be creative.

The latest Share Your Creativity submission is from Melissa. She showed us her sea blue wedding invitation. Here is my conversation with Melissa about her invitations and her beach destination wedding.

To save the audio to your computer, right click and "save as."

Here is a transcript of the interview:

Melissa, hi. First, congratulations on your wedding day coming up next month. How did you decide on a beach wedding?

We originally had always thought that we wanted to do a destination wedding just to get away from some of the traditions and we wanted to have more of a family vacation feel—an intimate affair with just our close family members. So that was the original part and then we both love the beach. We love to be in the warm climate so that’s where the beach part came in.

And can I ask where you’re flying to your wedding?

Yeah. We’re going to fly into Pensacola and we’re actually getting married on Navarre Beach which is in between Destin and Pensacola. We visited last October and it’s absolutely one of the prettiest beaches I’ve ever seen. It has real sugary, sugary sand blue, blue water so it’s gorgeous.

Then why would you have it anywhere else? Perfect.

I know, I know, right? Why have it in a church when you can be on the beach?

(Laughter) Now how did you decide on making your own wedding invitations?

I looked around. I guess I like to be crafty and I thought it’d be neat to have something original, something that I came up with and to save a little money of course. That’s always a factor.

Yeah. Let’s talk about your invitations which are beautiful like sea blue and you have a starfish theme on them and there are quite a few ways that make them unique. First, the additional wedding ceremony information card, can you tell me about that?

Yeah. My original plan for that card was to give the guests some accommodation information and area attraction information and to have an easy little card they can keep to reference. I guess I kind of thought maybe they’d take it with them and then they’d have the numbers and the hotel contacts and things to do on there so that’s kind of where that came from.

And then your choice to make a custom RSVP postcard instead of a card in a response envelope...

A couple things factored into that. First off, it was a postcard, so the postage was a little cheaper. And I really wanted to utilize the pocket in the pocket fold and I liked how I could kind of put RSVP on the top and have it just peek out. So it was kind of a design thing and making it easier for me. I didn’t have to buy envelopes and separate cards and everything like that.

And then the clever way that you have a sand dollar and a starfish, how did that happen?

I actually did some searching at some local craft stores, and I found a paper punch that I bought. The sand dollar design is kind of the original paper punch and then the starfish is actually the piece that punched out of the middle of that sand dollar. So I used both so that it’d be cohesive and I didn’t have to buy 2 (laughter) paper punches that way.

Nice. It’s a great effect having both of those designs that match as well on two components of your invitation. You did something that I don’t think a lot of our non-professional designer customers are comfortable doing, and you ordered the paper stock and then you custom cut most of the components. How did you plan exactly how much to order and what to order?

I ordered the LCI samples and that was really helpful because I ordered samples and then kind of played around with sizes with the pocket fold, what would fit with the printing that I wanted to put on it like my RSVP and stuff. So I really kind of played around with the samples I got and then I figured out the sizes and then from there, my fiancé actually did a lot of the math to figure out how much we’ll need. We ended up just getting a ream of fifty sheets from you guys which was more than enough really but it was cheaper than anywhere else I could find, so...

Great. He’ll appreciate that credit. He’s smart that way.

(laughter)

In your e-mail you mentioned that next up for you is another round of invites for your local reception in November. Anything you’ve learned making the first round that you might put into practice for the second round?

The first big thing that I learned in that was that postage is different for the size of the invitation. If it’s squared and over--I’m not sure what it is—like 5 inches or something, you have to pay additional postage, so mine—the pocket folds—I ended up paying a lot more for postage. So I definitely would have changed the size and made sure that in the new ones I didn’t get any crazy square sizes, that they were more standard. I’m definitely trying to start the second round of invitations a little earlier so I’m not so crunched on time.

Overall, have you enjoyed making your own invitations?

Yes, very much. I guess I’m kind of crafty even though I never really thought I was, but I liked the fact that it was something original, something that we made which made it a little more personal and something that no one else will have. So that was kind of important to me and made them unique and more special.

How did you hear about LCI’s Share Your Creativity program? What made you submit your invitation?

Well, I saw it from browsing the heck out of your web site when I was trying to design and figure out exactly what I wanted to do. And I also found the link... think it was a link to a blog of other people’s designs. It’s always fun to see what other people did. Sometimes it gives you ideas and thoughts of what you might want to do or a way to play off of what they might have done. So that’s how I found out about it. And I shared partially because there was an offer of a $25 gift card and because, like I said, it’s useful to anyone else that’s trying to do the same thing. You know, it’s kind of fun to say, “Oh, our invitation is on a web site" and, you know...

--

Thanks to Melissa, first, for submitting her beautiful wedding invitation, and second, for taking the time to talk to me about her creative process. I hope she inspires you to try to create your own invitations.

Joshua Birch

In her own words,

I arrived at LCIPaper.com after doing a Google search for printable vellum. I was making photo table numbers, which required me to print pictures on vellum which would be lit up by tea light candles from the interior of the display. I had found inexpensive 5x7" picture frames for the project and needed similarly sized vellum to avoid having to cut them myself. LCI Paper Company was one of few vendors that offered 5x7" vellum in several colors. I ordered from them because they were the most reasonably priced.

I purchased two 50-packs of 5x7" vellum overlay sheets in natural clear, expecting them to showcase the romantic glow of the candles behind them. Each pack was $11.50, resulting in a total of $28.98, including the $5.98 ground shipping. No tax was charged for my order, which was delivered to New York. The site accepts Google checkout in addition to four major credit cards. The checkout process was easy to follow and went smoothly. I received two email confirmations immediately upon placing the order and a shipping confirmation two days later. The items were received on time, three days later.

The vellum was perfect. It was exactly as described. The website had stated that the paper would work with inkjet printers and I had no problem printing the pictures on it. The color looked exactly as pictured, providing the perfect warm glow I had anticipated. I felt the project turned out well. Overall, I was very happy with the product and the price!

Continue to Epinions.com to read the rest of Jamilynn's review where she gives her specific impressions of our shopping site.

Would you like to try printing on our Natural Clear 5 x 7 inch Vellum Overlay like Jamilynn did? Consider ordering a sample.

Joshua Birch

The article discussed the inclusion of your friends and family in your do-it-yourself wedding plans; including potential pros, cons, and ideas for how to do so. Of course, when rattling off the benefits of do-it-yourself projects, gathering the help of friends and family is one that typically makes the list. Sure, these fun, helpful, friendly gatherings are mentioned quite a few times throughout LCI’s blog, though they are never discussed in detail; hence the reason this article caught my attention.

Besides the typical “because it is fun,” the article immediately mentions four compelling reasons to involve your friends and family in your DIY wedding:

. . .Having friends and family help you will not only make everyone feel a part of your big day, it will add a personal touch to your wedding, and leave less work for you. There’s one more perk: A DIY wedding will save you oodles of money!

The author goes on to mention specific ways she utilized the help of her friends and family in her wedding; a sister-in-law who created invitations and place cards, a mother who took charge of all floral details, an aunt who sewed the ring bearer pillow, and a friend to capture the memories on video. Recalling my friend's custom event, I had no doubt that it was the blend of her family's insight, creativity, and talent that truly shaped her wedding into the personal event that it was. Following the event, she informed me that she enjoyed being able to bounce ideas off of her sister, aunt, and mother-in-law, and that getting together with them to create these details were the high points of her preparation.

Processing this idea, I began to wonder whether my own family members would be helpful in planning an extensive do-it-yourself wedding (not that I am getting married any time soon . . .). Could my kindergarten teaching, insurance adjusting sisters, and my business savvy step mother help me pull together such a custom, fitting, event? I think so. Though none of us could be deemed overly artistic or creative, the reality of it is, they probably know me as well as I do. Going on this, they would be helpful in searching for, discovering, and creating (or purchasing) precisely what I was after. In addition, they would keep me in line if the stress of planning a wedding turned me into the edgy, high strung, nail biting version of myself that I admittedly become.

However, involving friends and family is not the best choice for everyone, the author goes on to discuss. For example, those in quest of a "perfect wedding" may feel that involving friends and family will be detrimental to their planning process. Those who have a firm opinion on what they want may feel that including others only leads to loss of control, and therefore additional stress, not less.

If you do decide that including your loved ones in your do-it-yourself wedding is for you, the following suggestions on just how to do so are offered:

* Decorating wedding venue
* Creating/mailing invitations
* Driving you to church/and or reception
* Taking photographs
* Videotaping wedding
* Readings in church
* Cooking the meal
* Creating appetizers/desserts
* Making the wedding cake
* Creating centerpieces
* Wrapping favors
* Creating boutonnières, corsages
* Making name cards
* Operating sound equipment, including Ipod and DIY photo download station
* Creating bridesmaids/flower girl dresses
* Acting as a wedding co-coordinator on your big day
* Returning tuxes
* Help cleaning up
* Returning rental chairs and tables etc.

Friends and family will most likely be ready and willing to help, whether they offer, or you ask. Adding their insight, talent, or creativity into your event may be the best planning decision you make. Yet it is important to keep in mind the following final suggestion:

If you’ve decided to involve loved ones, the best way to avoid disappointment is to be specific about what you want. Unless you are the laid-back type that just goes with the flow, it’s best to be clear about your ideas so there is no room for misinterpretation (and disappointment.)

Recommended Link:
Wedding Planning Stress? Take Some Time Off for Yourself

Kristen Desrosier

In general, I have an even-tempered personality. I rarely get very angry. I raise my voice even less. I keep my speed low to moderate on the highway. I avoid big crowds. I intentionally try to live stress-free and these are things that help. How interesting that last night as I was driving through Dorchester, MA with my new bride (we were going to pick up some Jamaican food--jerk chicken and brown stew chicken--to share with her family) a man that I presumed was asking for money told me he didn't want any money. He just wanted to ask me one question which was, "How do you control your anger?" I told him about my even temperament and he said that's all he wanted to know.

Back to Katie's article. Her first tip for destressing is:

Take the night off. Long day at work? Not feeling the wedding planning vibe tonight? Let it go and do something else. Catch up on your favorite TV shows, work on a sewing project, read a good book – anything that you enjoy, other than wedding planning, of course! It will all still be there tomorrow.

During the two weeks before my wedding, every night after work I did a lot of wedding preparation, focusing on the music, programs, seating cards, and place cards. I was resolved to work on wedding stuff every night until a couple days before the wedding, when my best man was scheduled to fly in. Because I kept a steady pace and accomplished a fair amount each night, I never got terribly stressed and was actually able to take an extra night or two off during the week before my wedding.

I'll touch one one more of Katie's tips:

Do something that simply makes you happy. Go for a jog, volunteer at the local animal shelter, window shop. This will help get your mind off of stressful wedding situations and put you in a fabulous mood. And who doesn’t like being in a fabulous mood?

One of the ways I stay fit is to take a brisk, 30-45 minute walk after work and on weekends. I download the latest audio podcasts that I'm subscribed to, sync my iPhone, put on my headphones, take my house keys, and I'm gone. My favorite route takes me to a local park with a stone bridge that crosses the Assabet River. Often, I'll see turtles sunning themselves. If I'm really lucky, I'll see a Great Blue Heron walking the edge of the river, hunting for fish. Another route takes me past the town center to a softball field. My town has a great men's softball league whose teams play almost every summer night. Finally, I can walk the rail trail. This is my time to exercise and catch up on my favorite topics. I forget about my stress. Even though I was working on wedding preparations every night, I still managed to take time for myself and get out there.

I'd encourage all of you with up-coming weddings to plan ahead and budget your time so that you don't have to give up what you enjoy. Keep your routine--whatever makes you happy and healthy.

Joshua Birch

To show you how easy and fun it is, I'll walk you through the process of making a wedding invitation. I'll use sample products, invitation wording, and Word templates from LCI's web site. You can do the same by ordering a few samples on our web site and completing the rest of the steps at home.

Envelopes

Here's my first piece of advice. Before you design and print your dream invitation cards, decide on your envelopes. You don't want to be stuck with a great invitation card that doesn't fit into a standard size wedding envelope or inner/outer wedding envelope set. Speaking of wedding envelope choices, now would be a good time to read my article, Wedding Envelopes: Lined, Double, Single - How To Choose? For today's invitation ensemble, I'm going to choose Double Wedding Envelopes. One of LCI's most popular double wedding envelopes are Tiffany size, where the inner envelope measures 8" wide by 5 3/4" high and the outer envelope measures 8 1/4" wide by 6" tall. The dimensions of the inner envelope are 1/4" less than the outer envelope. In the next section, you'll see that the invitation card should also measure 1/4" less than the inner envelope.

Invitation Cards

As I mentioned at the end of the previous section, the invitation card should measure about 1/4" less than the envelope. In this case, since I'm using inner and outer envelopes, the card should measure 1/4" less than the inner envelope, since the card will be placed inside the inner envelope. Since I've chosen Tiffany sized double envelopes where the inner envelope measures 8" wide by 5 3/4" high, I'll look for a card that measures 7 3/4" wide by 5 1/2" high.

LCI sells a great kit called the Blank Wedding Invitation Hot Pink Frame with double wedding envelopes and an invitation card--all sized for a perfect match. I don't have to worry about the proper sizing because LCI has taken it all into consideration. I'll order a sample by clicking the Order Samples tab. You can see how it works below:

At this point, I can also order a sample response card and response envelope, because I want these items to be part of my wedding invitation ensemble.

Layout

LCI provides all the resources for printing our blank invitations using your home computer and printer. Once you've ordered your samples, the best place to get up to speed on layout and printing is our page, The ABCs of Printing at Home. Since I'm ready to work on my invitation card layout, I want to download a template for my card. I'll click on Printing Templates For Invitations & RSVP Cards and scroll to "Sizzling Color Frames (KT98XX Series)." I can download Microsoft Word templates for my invitation card and RSVP card. These can be opened and edited in Word and in any program that reads Word documents like OpenOffice.org.

When I open up the invitation template in Word, I see sample invitation wording that I can tweak to my needs. More sample invitation wording can be found by going back to The ABCs of Printing at Home and clicking Sample Invitation Wording.

I am able to change the font, font size, and add my custom details. For this sample wedding invitation, I'll choose a casual looking font called Angelina. I think it will make the hot pink invitation look more fun and less formal. At this point, I could add any other design elements like a monogram or line art graphics.

Within Word, if I were to click File/Page Setup, I would see that inside the Paper tab, the document is sized at 5.5" wide by 7.75" high. I'll use these dimensions in the next section.

Printing

Once I've finished with my invitation wording and I'm happy with the layout, I am ready to send the job to the printer. I'll load the invitation card into the printer and move the plastic guides so that they're flush with the sides of the card. In Word, I'll click File/Print and choose my printer from the list. I'll click the Properties button because I need to communicate the size of my invitation card to the printer.

Under Paper Options, I'll go to Size and selected User Defined. I'll input the size of our document, 5.5" wide by 7.75" high. Now the printer knows what size card is in its tray. I can click OK and return to Word's print dialog box where I'm ready to send the card to be printed. A final OK, and the finished invitation is seconds from coming through the printer looking lovely.

Note: Every printer's driver is different, so the paper options might not be shown exactly as I've described above. Just poke around and find the paper size setting for "User Defined" or "Custom." If you don't see an option to change the paper size, you might need to download the latest driver from your printer manufacturer's web site so that this option will be available.

I can use the RSVP template to lay out my response card in the same way that I did with my invitation card.

Assembling

Once I've printed my response card, I can easily fold it along the scored line and place it under the flap of my response envelope. The response card, response envelope, and invitation card are placed inside the inner envelope which is then placed inside the outer envelope. For information about addressing your envelopes, read Kristen Desrosier's article, Addressing Your Wedding Invitation Envelopes: Traditional Guidelines and Helpful Tips.

Making your own wedding invitations can be fun and rewarding. I've talked to many people that enjoy spending time exploring our web site and looking through all of the invitation cards and kits as they make their decision on what to buy. Once the invitations have arrived at your door, finalizing your invitation wording and laying it out in Word is a rewarding experience because you'll have designed your invitation and laid it out exactly as you envision it in your head. Finally, you can gather friends and family to help you assemble all the personalized pieces of your invitation ensemble.

If you have made your own wedding invitations, let us know about your experience!

Joshua Birch

The essence of Old World is a traditional style of paper with a smooth velvety, matte finish combined with a strong framework and environmental soundness. Old World has the distinction of being chlorine and acid free. It is also pH neutral, allowing it to be age-resistant, yielding finished pieces that will last a lifetime. The envelopes have an elegant design, most notably for a European style flap.

Wedding Invitation Custom Printing

We are pleased to announce the availability of our new wedding invitation printing service where customers can choose from our Old World line and place their custom printing order on our web site in four easy steps.

Customize Your Wedding Invitations on Our Web Site

First, customers choose from one of three printing styles.

Second, they choose the specific parts of the invitation kit that they need. Perhaps they'd like to order a full ensemble that includes invitation cards, envelopes, response cards, response envelopes, and reception cards. Or they might only require invitation cards and envelopes. The full selection is available to them, including their choice of quantities.

Third, a choice of four different ink colors are available.

And finally, the customer edits our sample invitation wording to include all the pertinent information that will appear on the wedding invitation.

Get Started Now!

See our Old World invitations and learn more about our custom printing service.

The availability of this new printing service gives our customers an alternative method of being able to create their own wedding invitations at a reasonable price.

Recommended Link:
LCI Paper Launches "Old World" Brand of Fine Specialty Paper

This posting initially grabbed my attention because it conjured up ideas of Halloween (a day I admittedly love); yet after reading further, my thoughts were sent in another direction. Though I have never been to a theme wedding quite as wacky as the one described above, I have attended a handful of them. Of course it is simply a matter of opinion, but it seems to me that theme weddings always end up being a great time for everyone. Thinking about why I felt this way, I came to the realization that are several reasons why theme weddings are so great, and therefore, several reasons to consider one!

Theme weddings are sure to memorable for you and your guests

If you glanced at the photo above, or happened to read the whole Offbeat Bride posting, you would have to agree, it would be hard to forget an event like this! Putting together a theme wedding takes a significant amount of time and attention. From save-the-dates to detailed reception to thank you notes, the final themed presentation will likely resonate with you and your guests.

Themes offer a perfect way to inject your character and favorite things

The featured Seattle newlyweds chose their Dia de los Muertos theme because it meant something personal to them. All of their unique additions and details made it clear they injected their own personalities into their event and had fun doing it. Ideally, this is what a wedding should be about.

A theme may make planning more fun, and less stressful

It goes without saying that wedding planning may be stressful, theme or not. In either case, you are hunting, booking, matching and organizing for weeks to get the look and feel you are after. At first glance, it may seem that putting together an elaborate theme may make add complications to planning, yet this is not necessarily true. Typically, a theme is seen as fun and quirky. When planning for a theme wedding, if you see something you like, yet it does not perfectly match or traditionally belong at a wedding, it is okay! The reason your offbeat detail is acceptable is because it indeed fits the theme, and probably will not be seen as odd so much as amusing or fun. In essence, a theme does not restrict your choices, but instead adds planning wiggle room.

Analyzing this point further, my sister and brother in law came to my mind. Being the laid back, low maintenance people that they are, they chose to have a beach/luau themed wedding and reception. Complete with a back-yard barbecue rehearsal dinner, a request that guests arrive dress-casual, and wedding party clothing change for the reception (from tuxedo coats and stilettos to Hawaiian shirts and flips flops), the whole event was "very them." I bring this point up to mention the fact that at the reception, my brother in law was thrilled to be able to wear a crazy captain's hat that he purchased during the previous Halloween season. Yes, I can see how it moderately fit the theme (captain/ship/sea/beach?), yet it was a stretch. The overriding point is that he found a way to incorporate his wacky hat, and therefore character, into his wedding, simply because he wanted to. The best part is, most people viewed this as fun, not ridiculous.

A theme wedding is a great way to utilize you crafty and creative talents

Creating or finding details for your wacky theme wedding may be as fun as the actual event. Once you get started on planning, you may be surprised by where your imagination leads you. Of course, not everyone is creative and crafty, which is why the following quote from the Offbeat posting is a great one.

Create something memorable, but don't over-stress yourself. Crafty folks will certainly want to add a handmade touch to the ceremony, but remember there are a lot of talented people who can help make your wedding unique.

Theme weddings are fun

It goes without saying that if your event incorporates your personality, creativity, and favorite things, it will be a blast for you. However, also consider the fact that if you are having a great time, it will show, and inevitably your guests will too! If you put your mind to it, the possibilities for a theme wedding are endless!

Recommended Link:

Invitations By Theme, Style, or Color

Kristen Desrosier